The linguistic
differences between the two sexes are regarded as the oldest form of human
linguistic differences. Gender language research, from the perspective of the
analysis of men's and women's words, to understand their verbal behavior model
and its physiological mechanism, cognitive mode, psychological process, social
role, value idea, the close link between cultural differences, between men and
women, which has its physiological background, language characteristics which
words is its "social gender awareness to influence the outcome of",
therefore, the research helps us to complex language phenomenon is more
accurate and reasonable explanation, deepen the understanding of human general
behavior model, promote the development of people-oriented basic science. At
the 44th international linguistic conference held at New York university in the
United States in April 2000, language and gender was fully discussed as the
central topic of the conference. This fully demonstrates that contemporary
linguists have treated language and gender as an important factor that cannot
be ignored in linguistic research.

The feminist
movement has promoted gender language research. Western feminism started in the
early 20th century and began in the 1960s. In less than half a century, its
influence has been involved in many aspects of people's life and played a
positive role in promoting the liberation and improvement of modern women's
life. Feminists, one of the biggest contribution is put forward the social
gender theory, divides into the person's sex physiology sex and gender, and
social gender concepts into the core category of feminist theory and criticism
of gender essentialism of powerful weapon, the male and female private and men
outside the women inside the gender essentialism formed the fatal shock. The
renewal of gender awareness has led women to demand equality with men in all
aspects, including language. Feminists believe there is a big difference in the
language used by men and women. But of all the written stuff, only the voices
of men, and the voices of women, who make up half the world's population, are
completely and forever drowned out. Moreover, the problem is not a temporary
local phenomenon, but a serious long-term worldwide problem. The gravity of the
problem is also evident in public and social Settings. In these places, the
reverberation is always the voice of the man. Even when a woman's voice is
speaking, it is not in the language of her own woman, but in the language she
has been influenced and nurtured from a young age, the language of the man.
They urged the creation of an equal language environment. This feminist appeal
greatly promoted the study of gender language by linguists.

At present,
most of the relevant researches at home and abroad belong to the introduction
or summary of the research on gender language in English, and the research data
on gender language in other languages and cultures in the world are very
deficient, including Chinese. Chinese gender language research has just
started, but also to draw lessons from western gender differences research in
theory, the research also appears more scattered, only for the individual has
carried on the preliminary description language and speech phenomenon,
theoretical and systematic, the law of the gender differences of the Chinese
words is the lack of a comprehensive description and research. In different
occasions, how men and women from different age, occupation, education and
other backgrounds communicate under the influence of gender awareness, and
whether there are significant gender differences in silence, interruption, and
least response in the context of Chinese culture is an unknown field. The
impact of gender awareness on verbal behaviors such as apology, refusal,
invitation, greeting and request in Chinese also needs to be further explored. In
a word, the localization of Chinese corpus needs to be further strengthened.

Driven by
feminists and linguists, the English language environment has changed a lot,
especially the written language.

All levels of
English society have taken positive measures to neutralize the language with
obvious traces of gender discrimination. Some publishers have deliberately
written and published guidelines for the use of gender-specific languages,
introducing guidelines and practices for avoiding gender-specific languages.
Writers, journalists, editors and contributors have also tried to avoid
revealing words that might irritate women today. In 1974, the New York times,
one of the largest newspapers in the United States, published a special
treatise on the equal treatment of gender words, detailing which words should
and which should not be spoken. In 1982, the national association of English
journalists published the non-sexist language rule, a book that inspired people
to avoid masculine language. In 1984, the association of faculty and staff of
the university of Australia issued a pamphlet to each member to encourage the
use of gender-neutral language in the university. Other international
educational journals also publish papers on gender-free language teaching. Rosalie
Maggio's dictionary of unbiased usage came out in 1991 as a guide to
non-discriminatory language usage.

Compared with
English, the study of Chinese is just at the beginning, and the inequality in
many languages has not attracted wide attention. Therefore, in order to realize
the equality of Chinese language, effective measures should be taken to
eliminate language discrimination. Some practices of English are worth our
reference. First of all, gender markers for women should be removed in terms of
occupations and some terms of address. For example, in the release of the list
of delegates, signature, and so on, it is not necessary to specify its female
identity. Secondly, we should take the same measures as English for the same
problem of male pronoun generalization. Use "he" sparingly when there
is no clear gender. In general, the singular USES him/her and the plural USES
"they/them". Thirdly, we should try to avoid using derogatory terms
to refer to women. For example, men should not frequently call their wives
"gossips, cooks, cooks" and so on.

Language
reflects reality. The phenomenon of ignoring and discriminating against women
in language is the realistic reflection of people's outdated ideology. On the
other hand, the abundant existence and repeated occurrence of these language
phenomena that favor boys over girls and men over women further affects
people's ideological consciousness, deepens and strengthens all the original
fixed ideas in people's subconscious and hinders people from correctly recognizing
reality. Traditional and backward language forms may hinder social and
political development and progress. Women in the language are constantly
ignored and discriminated against, making it possible for people to
unconsciously accept the reality that women are in a lower social status and
receive lower treatment. Therefore, it is an important task for language
workers to be aware of this problem and to strive to eliminate gender
inequality in language. It's a very difficult and time-consuming job, involving
everyone who USES language. The traditional language forms that reflect the
different social roles and social status of men and women have already been
absorbed and accepted by people unconsciously. It is very difficult for them to
give up and change the original language forms and language habits. So, in the
revision on language policy, put forward and implemented to eliminate gender
discrimination scheme in the process of language, social effect should be fully
considered, to fully understand the language, after all, is a kind of
conventional symbols was accustomed to achievement in one thousand, eliminate
gender discrimination phenomenon in language could not have finished in one
day, still need a process.

Of course,
linguistic sexism should also have a correct evaluation and should not go to
extremes. For example, the suggestion of replacing "history" with
"herstory" is a bit extreme. In addition, language is a reflection of
social reality, leaving social reality and changing language alone and in isolation
without changing social reality. As long as there is discrimination and
prejudice against women in the society, there must be its shadow in the
language. If the society does not change its attitude towards women, the sexism
in language will continue.

To sum up,
gender discrimination and gender differences exist not only in language but
also in our society. Language is a sign of social attitudes. The gender
differences reflected in language are not determined by the natural attributes
of language symbols, but the inevitable reflection of specific social values
and ways of thinking in language. Both male and female languages have their
specific social functions. In language communication, different social
environments, cultures and professions also affect the language styles of both
male and female. However, with the development of The Times, the continuous
improvement of women's social status and the proximity of men and women's
careers will bring the gradual convergence of men and women's psychology and
behavior to a certain extent.